Apps may finally arrive on Apple TV at WWDC 2012

News

//June 2, 2012

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber has posted some thoughts on the schedule for WWDC 2012, suggesting that Apple may have plans to launch a developer platform for the Apple TV.

Gruber notes that there are an unusually high number of “To Be Announced” sessions on the schedule this year, particularly in the Presidio (the largest room for sessions). This implies not just that Apple will be announcing new stuff, but the new stuff that will fill the biggest room in the building with two-and-a-half days worth of sessions.

Of course, this is Apple, so this could be nothing, but Gruber says “I think something’s up.”

To me, this is what a preliminary WWDC conference schedule would look like if Apple were set to announce a new developer platform, like, say, apps for Apple TV. Apps for Apple TV is just a guess – I’ve heard not a single whisper about such a thing from any Cupertino area little birdies. (Cf. the aforementioned Tim Cook quote about Apple doubling down on secrecy.) But it’s one of the few things I can imagine would that would be big, new, and different enough to warrant that much attention at WWDC. Combine these holes in the session schedule with Jonathan Geller’s report today at BGR – “Apple to Demo New TV OS at WWDC in Two Weeks” – and I’ll put five bucks down on this actually happening.

BGR has also reported that they learned from a trusted source that Apple will demonstrate a new version of the operating system at the WWDC event. However, the article does not claim that Apple will be including apps for Apple TV.

Apple’s latest software update to the second and third generation Apple TV included a much more iOS look to the user interface. The company has recently incorporated parts of iOS with Mac OS X Lion and intends to continue the trend with OS X Mountain Lion this summer. The idea of building off of what has taken iOS to such incredible heights seems inevitable for Apple TV. The timing also seems right for Apple to release a SDK for Apple TV at the upcoming WWDC, which would put it ahead of the release of the rumored Apple television.

Tim Cook recently talk about Apple TV at the D10 conference, during the interview the CEO stated “this is an area of intense interest for us.”

We shall find out soon enough, the WWDC 2012 event will take place June 11-15.